DCD

[dobbie]

I'm new to this chat style forum so forgive any errors.

We have just been informed that our son age 12 has DCD developemntal co-ordination disorder,along with a whole host of social disorders and other perceptual problems, he was being investigated for aspergers but because has a little bit of imagination they could not agree on that diagnosis, although in a meeting with the school as to what stratgies they should use ther reply was do the same as for ASD. The school cannot manage him or will not as they see him as a naughty boy who takes up a lot of their time to manage and he goes from detention to detention on a daily basis. We told the school when he joined them a year ago that he was a challenge.

Has anyone got any advice to help us on our way.

Thanks.

[mel_jayne]

Hi dobbie

welcome to the forum,i'm also new on her but you are on a great site,the support from everyone is amazing.Have you thought about a special school where the support is there and they are more understanding.I'm still waiting for dx for my 9 year old son,i'm lucky in a way he doesn't kick off at school much and he goes to a shcool that support me with him Sorry it's not much <'> hope the hug helps

[call me jaded]

The Dyspraxia Foundation are a really helpful bunch of people. If you're very lucky they'll have a support group near you.

[call me jaded]

And have a look at Apraxia Kids - that was my very first listserv (forum) many years ago. Very high quality advice there.

[dobbie]

Thanks for the tips, we have already joined a dyspraxic help group locally and when the school asked the doctors about whether he should be in a mainstream school the unanimous reply was yes most certainly, where else should he be !!

The look on the heads face was enough to tell me what she was thinking and after furhter discussions it was very apparent that they had no idea how to handle a child with ASD traits.

Its a struggle to get our son to school because of the bullying, he got beat up again last week and the school still managed to turn the tables on him saying he was to blame, mainly because whan asked if he hit someone he says he did but does not give them any more information to resolve the issues, the other kids appear to be claiming he has made racists comments which he denies and being very truthfull I believe him but the school obviously does not. the schools problem is that it may take several hours to resolve what happened and that means teachers are missing their free periods (in other words too much trouble).

Rather than helping our son I think they will eventuall try to get him excluded.

[elainem]

Hello Dobbie,

 

Just out of interest my ds has dx of ASD and he has excellent imaginative skills. His good role playing skills are singled out in the Ed Psychs report. He is nearly 5 and in mainstream with support about to comence. He also has severe dyspraxia. Does your ds have a statement?

 

Elaine

[dobbie]

We have been told by the doctor that they don't like to statement children in the Notts area although that is an option that we may have to follow if all else fails.

Our next port of call is to an Occupational Therapist to see how ds he is and what they can do to help him, he really struggles to do p.e and we were surprised to learn that at the age of 12 he cannot run backwards without falling over and as a lot of p.e at school involves football he is on a loser from the start and gets called a lot by the other kids becuase he can't play football (scores home goals which they don't like).

[witsend]

Hi Dobbie - welcome to the forum. My son was initially dx with DCD (Dyspraxia) and while I accepted this dx I always felt it wasn't the whole story, he was also then dx with dyslexia, DAMP and semantic pragmatic disorder. Basically he gathered diagnoses and still it didn't seem to be the whole picture. It was only really when I did my homework on ASD's and thanks to brilliant support from parent partnership in my area that I pushed for dx of AS and recently got it!

Now that he has been dx with AS it's a great releif and a lot of things have fallen into place, including much more support form school and increased banding in statement.

My son has a fantastic imagination - i also used to think he couldn't have AS because of this, but have learnt since this is not true ( the issue re imagination in ASD's is a complex one even the professionals can't agree on - as you've already found) my son is often unable often to forsee the consequences of his actions and in this way his 'imagination' is limited but as for having fantasy worlds, unusual ideas etc he's streets ahead.

How can the school be saying they will treat him as ASD but then so obviously not doing so (detentions etc) is a puzzle. Sounds like the school are not being helpful in the slightest - do you have the option of changing schools?

Also for someone to tell you they don't like to statement children because of area sorry but that is nonsense! My son's headmaster tried to fob me off by saying statements were being phased out so there was no point asking for one, that was over four years ago!! Since then (and the headmaster leaving) my son has got a statement and has had his banding incresed twice! While there is still talk of statements being phased out it still has not happened!

Please do not take no for an answer when you feel it is wrong. Go with your gut feeling and do not presume any of the professionals know more about your sons problems than you do - in my experiance thay don't!

This forum is great to learn from and to share things with.

Good luck - witsend.